An election in India is one of those spectacles, like a pilgrimage or a marathon, in which size itself is meant to convey meaning. Watching all those people peacefully praying, running or voting  it restores your faith in humanity.

And so I followed every twist and turn of the five weeks of voting that just ended in India, during which 415 million voters in megacities, small towns and tiny villages came together to elect a new government. I tagged along at one of Rahul Gandhi's campaign rallies, and watched his cousin...